The research fields of the UCT Physics department are nuclear physics, solid state physics, theoretical physics and physics education, and there are many PhD and MSc students in these areas. There is an excellent BSc (Honours) programme. The undergraduate physics courses leading to a BSc degree are given in the strong Mathematical, Physical and Statistical Sciences Programme.
The Department of Physics houses research laboratories equipped for nuclear physics, high-resolution X-ray diffraction, X-ray stress determination, and positron beam physics. Additional facilities available to the department are provided by iThemba Laboratories for Accelerator Based Sciences (200 MeV cyclotron and a 5 MeV Van de Graaff accelerator used for ion-beam analysis, including a nuclear microprobe).
